Rules of Theft
by MistressSara
Summary: Belle French is an insurance investigator, Rumford Gold is a master thief. Their paths cross when she is assigned to finding and stopping him before anything else goes missing. Of course nothing goes according to plan and both are left to question what is real and what is part of the trap.
1. Chapter 1

A quick what's what: I own nothing, the general idea is a variation of the movie Entrapment. Reviews are greatly appreciated.

**x-X-x**

The skyscraper stood high above the city, a glowing figure in the night's sky. Those who lived in the city barely paid the building notice, while those visiting simply regarded it as interesting before continuing on with their evening. It would have taken someone looking very closely to notice the slender figure clad in black spandex propelling down the side of the structure. A large contraption on the roof tethered the figure securely, ensuring that they didn't fall too far. The control box ensured that they stopped at just the right window. Now the screws had to be dealt with, the small devices attached to pull the glass out far enough for the dangling body to slip in. With a quick glance of their watch, a button was pushed to pull the cord just a fair bit higher, allowing them to disappear as the guard made his round past the office. Everything was timed to perfection; the guard was gone before another button was pushed, slowly pulling the glass free of its frame.

Next to be dealt with was the alarm system, a homemade app and Bluetooth took care of that quite quickly enough. With the ease of a dancer the body slid into the room undetected. On one desk sat an arrangement of roses, this was moved to a small table in front of the window, allowing for the wind to shift the blooms gently. There would be no doubting how the thief came in and left the room, at least for a keen eye to spot. The wall safe was child's play, opened within a few brief seconds. There before the masked thief sat the rare Sherlock Holmes manuscript, valued for a pretty price by an anonymous collector willing to pay a fortune.

The thief took the work from the safe, touching the cover almost reverently before pulling a large pre-labeled envelope from inside the bag slung over her shoulder. The mail shoot just outside of the large office was almost too convenient. With the loot dropped 30 floors below, the figure pulled another object out of their bag leaving it where the manuscript had once sat. Then hooked back into the harness, out the window, alarm reset, glass back in place, and the slow ascent to the heaven of the roof.

James Hook would be furious when morning came and he arrived at his office to find Sherlock missing and a child's copy of Peter Pan in its place.

Everything went off without a hitch. If only the man in the building across the street hadn't gone unnoticed by the cunning thief.

**x-X-x**

"A copy of Peter Pan?" Isabelle French, investigator for Hopper Insurance, laughed as she looked up from her computer.

"Hardly a laughing matter, Belle." Her boss, Archie Hopper admonished, trying to stifle his amused reaction as well. "It is our responsibility to find out what happened. What do you make of it?"

Belle bit her lip for a moment, twirling her hair into a bun and sticking an antique, two-pronged pin into place. Her dark curls did have a habit of getting in the way while she was working, distracting her while typing or when she was out meeting with clients. Her business attire was much more comfortable than others in the office. While most went for scandalous or power, Belle found herself rather firmly in the middle. She opted for a mix of the two, combining what she could find on sale and vintage pieces from the thrift shops. Today she wore a short black skirt, probably left over from the sixties, matched with a blue cardigan that formed to her perfectly.

"He came in through the window." She stated simply.

"He?"

"We both know who is responsible for this."

"Enlighten me."

"Gold."

"Not this about Rumford Gold again."

"I'm telling you it's him." Belle insisted unflinchingly.

"And I'm telling you that this obsession with the man is getting terribly out of control."

"Just look at the photos from the office this morning. He came in through the window, like always."

"How can you be so certain?"

"The roses, they've been moved and blown to the side by the breeze of—"

"An open window?" Archie murmured in surprise, looking closer at the image.

"And then there's this. Ruby, will you pull up that footage please." Belle asked, standing and moving to the cubicle next to hers. "This is from an auction for the manuscript a few months ago. See anyone familiar?"

"No." Archie answered simply.

"Right, look closer." Belle took the mouse and zoomed in on one man in particular, tucked away in the back row. His hair had since become flecked with grey, though it didn't detract from his appeal. Truth be told most nights Belle couldn't help but let her mind wonder to the master thief, trying to figure out what his next target might be.

"Gold."

"Precisely. He's supposed to be in London now, supposedly looking to move the merchandise or deliver it to the buyer."

"I highly doubt a man who took two bullets to his leg and relies quite heavily on cane has been slipping in and out of windows."

"It's him. He's found a way around his problem." The brunette argued. "Or he has trained someone to do his bidding."

"We should send someone to check up on him."

"There's a flight leaving JFK in two hours."

"I don't recall assigning you, Belle."

"Who else are you going to send? I've been following Gold for a year now. No one knows his methods better than I do. It would be pointless to send anyone else."

"Fine. Go, keep an eye on him, don't get shot."

"Splendid advice, Archie. I high intend to take it to heart." Belle smiled, pulling her purse from beneath her desk before turning off her computer and collecting the rest of her things. She was almost out the door when:

"Belle." The red headed man called. "Be careful."

"What else would I be?" She gave him a wink then hurried out of the office.

**x-X-x**

It was surprisingly easy to track Gold down when Belle arrived in London. Despite being a bit jetlagged she dropped her things at the hotel then took the rental car to the address of his town house. She waited, watching the blue front door closely. The chauffeured car soon arrived, and it was then that Belle caught her first real glimpse of the man. He was short in comparison to most men, but was still taller than she. His frame was slender, but she could imagine he was rather firm. As Archie had pointed out, the man did rely heavily on his gold handled cane, limping the short distance from the front door to the car. After a few moments, she shifted the car into gear and followed the black Bentley into traffic.

She followed them for nearly an hour before the car finally pulled to a stop outside of a small museum. It seemed that hours had passed while he was inside. Belle had gone through her ice coffee and an apple before he finally reemerged. Although his return outside was accompanied by an echoing of alarms going off. While those around him hurried out of the building, he simply walked calmly as though he were taking a leisurely stroll through the park.

A stake out always left Belle rather hungry, which was why she had absolutely no hesitation pulling a slice of pizza from the box as she walked back to her room. It was a rather fruitless day in the scheme of things, but she had seen the man, presumably in action and that was a start. Right now all she cared for was a hot bath, the rest of her pizza, and climbing into bed with a book. Of course the universe had very different plans for her. Pushing the door open she glanced around and instantly realized that something was terribly off.

Her suitcase was missing from the rack next to the closet, which had been cleared out, so had the drawers of the dresser. Everything but her book was gone.

"Damn it." She sighed, tossing the pizza box down on the bed and looking around, trying to decide what to do. It was too late to call the front desk, not that they would care. Hopper wasn't exactly offering a lot in the way of expenses. She would have to wear the same clothes in the morning and find a store that was somewhat reasonably priced. The rest of the evening passed quietly, bath and dinner carrying on as planned, before Belle shed all of her clothes and climbed into bed. Her gun was stashed beneath her pillow, as always, while the book she had been so keen to read rested on her chest as she slept.

It wasn't clear what had woken her up but when her eyes slowly opened she was instantly aware that someone else was in the room. Belle slowly reached for the revolver only to find it missing. With a gasp she pushed the pillow aside before sitting up, the book and sheets both falling away to reveal her bare chest.

"Rule number one," came Gold's thick Scottish voice from the chair in the corner of the room, "never carry a gun. You may be tempted to use it."


	2. Chapter 2

"Rule number one," came Gold's thick Scottish voice from the chair in the corner of the room, "never carry a gun. You may be tempted to use it."

"What are you doing here?" Belle demanded, not realizing that she was naked from the waist up and lit rather perfectly by the moonlight streaming in through the open window.

"I'm going to ask you some questions, dearie." He countered smoothly, ignoring her outrage.

"And it had to be in the middle of the night?"

"What are you doing here?" Gold carried on.

"I've got a proposition for you. The Robin Hood and the Monk manuscript will be on display at the Darling Castle. I've been offered $40 million to steal it. But I need your help."

"Rule number two: never trust a naked woman." He smirked, letting his eyes drift down to her pert breasts. She was beautiful, this was going to be more difficult than he had originally anticipated. With a soft gasp she pulled the comforter up to cover her body, staring daggers at him.

"Someone stole my suitcase, I had nothing to sleep in."

"Amazing what's being stolen lately." Gold laughed softly, reaching for the magazine she left on the end table. On the cover was a photo of the manuscript in question, worn from age and beginning to crumble. "So, this is your proposition?"

"The manuscript is going to be kept in a pressure sensitive, locked case. I have the code, but I need help getting in and out undetected, that's where you come in. I've got the buyer set up."

"I don't believe you."

"But you want to." She grinned, leaning back against her pillows, watching him as closely as she could in the dark room. He was quite handsome up close, it was hard not to be taken with his long fingers as they thrummed noiselessly against his good knee. They sat in silence for a few moments, simply observing each other.

"First we try, then we try." He finally sighed. "Meet me outside of the hotel at 2 pm… dressed if you'd like."

"How do I know you'll be there?" Belle asked, sitting up again.

"If I tell you I'll be there, I'll be there. I'm never late. If I'm late, I'm dead." Was his simple response. She rolled over and reached for the light on the nightstand.

"My hotel or—Gold?" He was gone.

Belle was tired still when her alarm went off at 7 am. She was still out of sorts after arrived the day before and her late night visitor made it difficult to get back to sleep. Her mind was reeling, trying to figure out the angle she would have to work to get Gold on board with her. She pulled on her clothes from the day before, a short tweed skirt and fitted red sweater. After a call to Archie she found a small restaurant to wait in, slowly eating lunch while reading her book. It was almost two when she reached the entrance of his hotel.

"Get in." Came his voice from inside a silver Porsche. Belle smirked, leaning down to make sure it was him before climbing into the passenger seat.

"Good afternoon, Rum." She greeted.

"You're chipper." He muttered pulling into traffic. "Sorry to see you've opted for clothing."

"Yes, well I thought going naked might attract the wrong sort of attention on our outing. Speaking of which—"

"We are going to an antique store, you will go in and ask for Marco. Tell him you want to buy the Victorian vase I have on hold. While he is in the back processing your credit card, you will steal the vase."

"What credit card should I leave him with?"

"This one." He pulled up a black card with a fake name on it and passed it to her. "You're a thief, steal."

With that he pulled the car to a stop outside of a rundown storefront. Gold watched as she walked inside, calm and smiling as though she weren't about to rob the store. It could be beneficial to have a pretty young woman around, she was unassuming and a distraction. Of course he wondered at her use a few minutes later when the alarm sounded, a man who had previously been watching from across the street fired a shot to shatter the window just as Belle returned to her seat.

"Drive!" She shouted.

"Where's the bloody vase?" He shouted back, taking a sharp turn down an alley, though not quickly enough to lose the tail.

"I broke it."

"WHAT?"

"It was a cheap knock off, you wouldn't have wanted it anyway." Belle yelled, holding fastening her seat belt as they took another sharp corner.

"That was the task I gave you. You missed the point of the exercise."

"No, I didn't." Her singsong tone caught his attention, forcing him to take his eyes off the road long enough to look at what she was holding up. The USB drive that was hidden inside the vase.

"Very good. Give it to me." He held his hand out just as the driver's side mirror was shot.

"Not until you tell me what's on it."

"Give it to me." He repeated.

"What's on it?" She countered again, holding her hand out the window, threatening to drop it.

"The blue prints, schematics and security layout for Darling Castle. Everything, soup to nuts."

"Focus on driving." She pulled her hand back inside and slipped the drive into her pocket. With a few more back alleyways and side streets they escaped their pursuers. They rode in silence the rest of the way, finally coming to a stop outside of a strange hotel.

"Look what you've done to this beautiful car." Belle frowned, looking at the vehicle now riddled with bullets, broken lights and windows, and a missing mirror.

"Doesn't matter, it's not mine." He shrugged, pulling a duffle bag from his backseat and tossing the keys onto the driver's seat and hurrying towards the hotel. Belle followed, climbing the stairs as quickly as she could, it was surprising how fast he could move with his cane. He glanced back at her briefly before pushing the bag into his arms.

"What's this?" She asked, unzipping the top flap. The pile of fabric looked familiar. "These are my clothes!"

"Yes. Thought you might need them." He replied calmly, pushing open the door that led to the roof. There before them was a large helicopter, prepared and waiting for them.

"Where's my suitcase, Rum?" She demanded, following him as he opened the door and started to climb in.

"It's with hotel security."

"Why?" He turned back, taking the bag from her and stowing it for the flight. She grabbed his arm and turned him to face her again.

"Insurance. Three Faberge hairpins that belonged to the Tsar were stolen from the museum yesterday. They are hidden in your suitcase, which…"

"Is with hotel security." She finished as realization dawned.

"One call and you're on their radar." He smirked, pulling a pair of headsets on and starting up the engines.

"This is entrapment!" She yelled over the whining propellers.

"What?" He pulled the headsets off.

"This is called entrapment!"

"Actually, it's blackmail. Entrapment is what cops do."

She fell silent, staring at him for a moment.

"Are you coming?"

Belle bit her lip, looking back to the door that led downstairs. She had no choice. With a deep breath she took his hand and climbed into seat next to him. Apparently they would be working together.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a quiet flight out of the city. Gold focused on piloting the helicopter, trying to ignore the sleeping woman next to him. She had pulled on the extra jacket he kept on the backseat and seemed to curl up and fall asleep almost immediately. Her head rested gently against his shoulder, if it weren't for the scent of her shampoo he wouldn't have even realized she had slowly slumped towards him. This was truly the last thing he needed, there was already too much distracting him from his work.

"Belle." He said softly. She didn't stir. "Belle!"

"Hmm?" She sat up and looked around.

"We're about to land."

"Where are we?" Belle questioned as she peered out of the windows, taking in the lush green hills and the large loch they were flying towards.

"Home." Just ahead of them there was a decent size castle, not too big, not too small, but still a castle. Belle's breath caught in her throat as she took in all there was to see.

"Impressive estate you have here." She teased, climbing out of the helicopter as soon as they landed.

"It is rather." Gold nodded. Without another word he started towards the door, not bothering to make sure that she was following him. The entrance way was rather standard, solid grey stones made up the walls and the floor, a short staircase lead towards a slightly more lived in area. Worn rugs covered the hardwood floors that lead to another closed door. It seemed that everywhere she looked there was another door or window. "In here."

The hall was beautiful. A fire was already glowing in the hearth keeping the room warm for their arrival. A long dark wood table ran half the length of the room while a pair of leather chairs sat in front of the fire. The ceiling was lined with heavy beams, breaking up the monotony of the grey. Belle slowly circled the room, inspecting the treasures on display.

"You've been struck silent, that must be a first." Gold mused with a smile as he saw to two tumblers of whiskey.

"It is. Is all of this…" she gestured to the paintings, "_yours_?"

"You mean are they legally in my possession? I suppose you aren't to know." He offered her a glass. "To the job."

"The job." She nodded before downing the amber liquid in one go. "Who else do you bring here?"

"No one."

"That's sad." Belle frowned, turning to examine what appeared to be an original Manet.

"Why's that?" Gold countered, finishing his own drink.

"To have all of this and no one to share it with. All of this beauty, locked away."

"You don't steal for your own enjoyment?"

"I steal for the sake of preservation. I never agree to a job unless I know the item is going to a better place. Or… well, never mind."

"Or?"

"Or for revenge. The only other reason I approve of."

"You're rather bitter for one so young." He sighed, taking their empty glasses back to the table before moving towards another door.

"I've lived more than someone my age." She shrugged, trying to play off the conversation.

"Well," he paused. "Come along, I'll show you to your room."

Gold led her up a narrow flight of stairs, a back route to the next floor. Belle tried to stay close to him as they moved down the dark corridor, while lights were left on downstairs someone apparently forgot about this area. He came to a stop outside of a heavy, dark wood door, pushing it opened and letting her pass. It was a beautiful room, probably one of the nicer spaces Belle had ever seen. The dark purple curtains hung around the four-poster bed, offering a bit of privacy. A window overlooked the loch, offering a window seat that Belle was dying to curl up in with a book.

"This is where you'll sleep."

"And where do you sleep?" Belle asked, lying across the foot of the bed.

"What?" Gold nearly fell over at the question as he turned from the window to look back at her. His mouth went dry at the sight of her lying on the bed, she had settled onto her back, propping herself up slightly with her arms. Her blue eyes were watching him closely, almost teasing him.

"Where do you sleep? In case I need you in the middle of the night."

"You won't need me."

"And if I want you?"

"Has there ever been a man you couldn't charm with those big blue eyes and pretty mouth?" He asked, sitting down next to her.

"Hmm… none I can think of at the moment. I am rather charming."

"A fine trait, one that I lack."

"Do I make you uneasy?" She asked.

"Baffle me is a more apt description." He admitted. "Now might be a good time to go over the rules."

"More rules." Belle sighed, letting her head fall against the gold satin comforter.

"An important one. For this to work, this job, there must be complete trust. Nothing will work without trust between thieves. For that to happen there must be a lack of personal connection between the two of us. There can be nothing more. No distractions. You do your job, I do mine, we both walk away a bit richer."

"Distractions can be terrible fun." She smiled, shifting to her side and forcing him to be a bit closer to her. All will to fight her fled as her slender fingers found the buttons on his blue shirt. It was easy enough to undo the first button, her index finger making brief contact with his skin. He shuddered as she lightly traced his Adam's apple, he had to stop this before it went too far. His hand wrapped around hers, halting her movement.

"Not when there's danger involved. Perhaps after, if you haven't come to your senses."

"I rarely come to my senses. Where's the fun in that?"

"Is that why you do this? Fun?"

"You should try it sometime."

"Not tonight."

**x-X-x**

"I don't know if I should show you this room." Gold announced, pausing outside of a pair of doors.

"What is it?" She asked, trying to peak around him as if she could see through them.

"Keep in mind I know every item in this room, I will know if something were to go missing." He warned.

"Well now I'm far too excited to wait."

"Very well." He pushed the doors open and allowed her to enter. Every wall was lined with custom made bookshelves, all of them filled with what appeared to be first and second editions of classics.

"Rum…" She breathed softly, looking around the room slowly, barely keeping her hands from reaching out to touch either him or the books. "It's beautiful."

"While you are here, you're welcome to use of the library." He said passively, making a valiant effort to ignore the smile on her face. "But first, we have work to do."

**x-X-x**

The afternoon was spent in the first room he had taken her to the day before. The long table was now covered with the blueprints of the Charming estate. First they would have to find a way in, then they would deal with the maze of laser beams, cameras, motion sensors, and other traps.

"We'll have to go in here." Gold explained, pointing to an underwater tunnel that led into a subbasement.

"Through the lake."

"It wasn't always a lake. The tunnel was once used by the owner of the land, a way to sneak his mistresses into the estate."

"Cunning." Belle giggled. "And once we're in we go up through the floor into the main exhibit."

"Through the lasers."

"Arriving at the case, just here." She pointed to the spot that had been marked for the display.

"Where you'll put in the code to unlock our treasure. A code you'll be sharing with me now." He demanded casually.

"Will I?"

"I'm starting to doubt if you actually have it."

"You don't trust me."

"I don't. I'm starting to doubt if you're even the thief you propose to be." Gold shouted, taking their tray from lunch out of the room to set aside for the housekeeper.

"I'm a thief, Rum. I'm a terrific thief!" She shouted after him.

"That's what you say, dearie."

"I stole the Holmes."

"Did you?" He called from outside of the room.

"Rum, ask me how I did it!" She replied before turning her attention to the wall of jagged bricks that made up the wall. It was quick work to scale the pieces, reaching the wooden support beam as Gold returned to the room.

"How did you do it?" He asked, unfazed by her climb.

"Hydraulic lift, dropped me right outside of the window." She explained, easily performing a back flip across the wide beam.

"Really? The alarm?"

"I have an app for that." She grinned, walking back to the middle before slowly lowering herself into a split.

"Of course. How did you get it out of the building?" He asked, reaching for the briefcase he had brought with him in the helicopter.

"That is the most beautiful part. I slipped it in the mail."

"No!" He scoffed, "you wouldn't do something so simple."

"It was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Simple, effective." She swung her legs around as he spoke and slipped backwards, propelling off the beam and flipping so that she landed on her feet on the table below. "Perfect."

Gold simply smiled, opening his briefcase and pulling out the envelope she had slipped in the mail shoot.

"How did you get that?" She demanded as he pulled the book from the protective wrapping.

"Why go to the top floor when you can wait in the basement?" He smirked.

"Rum! That was meant to go to Grumpy! He's going to kill me when it doesn't arrive." She sputtered.

"Is he? That would be a shame. Odd man to do business with. Leroy Deem of all people, why him?"

"He has promised intel on another job." She explained simply.

"Must be a big job."

"It's a personal one."

"Now there's a curiosity. What does the bookish Miss French find personal?"

"No, no. First we try, then we trust."


End file.
